If you have any doubts about whether music is permissible in Islam, then this video is a must watch for you. It contains one of the most extensive and detailed explanations of the topic of music and nasheeds in Islam, and gives clear evidence as to whether Muslims are allowed to listen to them. The …

If you have any doubts about whether music is permissible in Islam, then this video is a must watch for you. It contains one of the most extensive and detailed explanations of the topic of music and nasheeds in Islam, and gives clear evidence as to whether Muslims are allowed to listen to them.

The Classical Hit . . . Its Bad (Music & Nasheed) is a great lecture by Abu Mussab Wajdi Akkari. He provides a comprehensive coverage on the music and nasheed issue in modern Islam, and advises that they are not allowed in our religion, except in a couple of rare instances, which are singing by young girls with the duff at weddings and eid festivals.

Apart from these prohibitions, the majority of scholars are of the opinion that professional singing is haram and not allowed according to the teachings of Islam, and more than one scholar has deemed the so called “Islamic Nasheed” to be a bidah. In actuality, the concept of an Islamic Nasheed is something new. Of course, singing by men is allowed provided it meets the Islamic conditions, but this was not historically known as a nasheed.

The main prohibition against music in Islam stems from an ayat in Surah Luqman:

And of mankind is he who purchases idle talks (i.e.music, singing, etc.) to mislead (men) from the Path of Allah without knowledge, and takes it (the Path of Allah, the Verses of the Qur’an) by way of mockery. For such there will be a humiliating torment (in the Hell-fire). (Quran 31:6)

Those who try to claim that music is permissible say that the idle talk mentioned in the Ayat doesn’t refer to music, and means something else. But as Abu Mussab Wajdi Akkari points out, 3 of the most prominent scholars in Islam have all declared that it definitely refers to music.

Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari has mentioned it refers to both singing and listening to music, as well as purchasing professional singers and purchasing musical instruments. The Prophet Muhummad’s cousin, Abd Allah ibn Abbas, maybe the most knowledgeable of the Sahabah in Tafseer, and Hasan Al-Basri also concur with this view.

There are plenty of other Quran verses and hadiths which add weight to the evidence showing music is not allowed in Islam, but one of the most powerful hadiths which accurately describes what people are trying to do today is the one found in Bukhari:

Bukhari, Volume 7, Book 69, Hadith 494, Narrated by Abu ‘Amir or Abu Malik Al-Ash’ari, that he heard the Prophet saying, “From among my followers there will be some people who will consider illegal sexual intercourse, the wearing of silk, the drinking of alcoholic drinks and the use of musical instruments, as lawful.”

Another interesting point made in the lecture is that the past generations of righteous Muslims would smash the instruments of people found with them, and additionally reject their testimonies as their character was deemed deficient. If this seems strict, one of the Madhabs declares that defying the ban on music is disobedience, but enjoying it makes you a disbeliever and puts you out of the fold of Islam.

Imam Malik was quoted as saying “No one gets involved in music and singing except the corrupt people among society”, and Imam Shafi said “The one who partakes in song is an incompetent fool whose testimony is to be rejected”. We can see the incompetent fools of today like Sami Yusuf, who has openly declared that music is above Islam.

Ibn Qayyim’s quote sums up the modern music experience “Never do the love of songs and love of the Quran come together in a persons heart, except that one expels the other”.

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